Looking Ahead
by MissPixel
Summary: Bad food, a walk by the shore, and a starlit field. MZ.
1. Chapter 1

Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own Nintendo, nor do I exercise control over any of the characters contained therein. Unless of course, I want to write a story about them, in which case they will do whatever I command.

... it's _fuzzy._ And _mushy_. Eeeeeeeee... Here comes yet another of my MarthZeldafluffy fics. I should really write some humor... but that would make you bleed from all available orifices, so I won't.

* * *

The day was warm and drowsy, and the scarcity of active thought in Zelda's mind matched it well; few images and fewer words formed blotches of incoherent musings that floated around each other with little order or organization. 

Of these very few ideas, the one foremost and most prominent, and also the most enjoyable to her, was the fanciful notion that she was the only thing in the world - at that moment, her heart told her that she and the man with whom her hand was interlocked were blissfully secluded, and that the canopy of gently waving palm trees and the darkness in the wake of the sunset mere minutes ago had been placed there by a cosmic architect for the sole purpose of making the evening perfect.

Her flip-flops, a vivid emerald green to match the grass-turquoise of her summer dress, dragged lazily in the dirt path. The way was slightly packed, as if it had been scarcely beaten down by no more than wind and water, and so peppered with and rocks that even the most limber of travelers would do well to watch carefully her path. Zelda's eyes were not on the road ahead as they should have been, and with each carefree step she skimmed the rocks with dangerous proximity - instead her eyes, blue as the sea and half-lidded, were focused on Marth.

Zelda had always been a woman of sense and substance, but there was something about that night that dulled her awareness and made her simply happy to look at him - at his face, at his hair; anything her ardent gaze could reach... and then there were his eyes, darker than her own but filled with love just the same.

And there was also his voice in her ear, never failing to make her smile... until she realized that she was falling through the air after having stubbed her toe against a boulder. But it didn't matter in the end, for even though she had failed to see the rock, Marth was there to catch her, and she was left with no lesson learned at all; ready to merely laugh at her clumsiness and continue to leave her eyes off the road, using the fall as one more reason to lean on him while mimicking the look of a damsel-in-distress.

The better course would be to make her walk on her own, and to decrease her dependancy on him... but not once had he resisted Zelda's more saccharine advances, and it appeared that he wouldn't start now. There were a million thoughts; a million ideas exchanged wordlessly and contained in a single laugh and a single glance, and once again they continued down the dark starlit path, reinforcing Zelda's growing suspicion that she could die now and die happy.

The evening had started tentatively for all at the Smash Tournament Dormitories - a place which would hold sweet memories for eternity, for that was where Zelda and Marth had met - when the prince had first proposed the weekend outing. To Zelda's slight unease, he had asked her in the midst of some of their friends: Peach, Samus, Fox, Roy... and Link. The blond Hylian had grown a sort of a bad reputation for attempting a few unsavory actions while drunk months ago, and that had ended up as the reason by which Zelda had split up with him (she swore to take to the grave the secret that the real reason had been her growing affection for another).

After that, Link had known for some time that Marth had come in a few weeks later to pick up where he'd left off, but the former had always taken their relationship as a kind of personal insult. As well, it couldn't have been comfortable for any of the others present - watching two of the richest people in the world argue over who would pay the undoubtedly ridiculous bill. That had gone to Marth, as 'paying for Zelda' was one thing of which he never tired.

The actual bill had come up as something just under six hundred American dollars, and a simply ludicrous number of Japanese yen that had lost Zelda somewhere in the millions. Marth, however, hadn't flinched - at least not until Zelda's sidelong glance that clearly said "that was terrible", after which they had, much to the waiter's chagrin, burst out in hysterical sniggers and scattered undercooked fettuccini all over the floor. It was the truth - the meal at the overpriced Italian bistro had been far less than wonderful, and the only dish with food content had easily been the ten-year-old stick of gum Zelda had found in her dress pocket after dinner.

As expected, the two had emerged from the cursed restaurant all-but-dying of laughter. The unexciting food would have put a damper on the day of any other couple, but there was the strange thing about Marth and Zelda - it only made their evening better. To the same degree, when Zelda had still been with Link, he'd always check movie reviews profusely and ensure that it was a good movie before taking her. As a result, she saw a lot of good movies, but couldn't exactly remember when she had last had real fun while doing it; she and Link had laughed very little together, as he'd always seemed interested in the more romantic parts of their relationship.

Marth had never looked to impress her with his amazing taste in film and theater, for he simply didn't have it. From the first date, he might as well have spun in a circle and picked the first movie poster he saw, and as a result of that, Zelda experienced the first bad movie she'd ever seen in her life. And in fact, it was so bad that she and her date had never been able to stop giggling and guffawing loudly in the theater while exchanging snide comments and occasionally throwing popcorn at the screen.

It had seemed strange and new to her at first - to misbehave so openly in a public place, she a princess and he a prince. But even that had its advantages, for no one dared reprimand them even if they so wished - in fact, some of their comments had actually issued laughter from the crowd, and consequently she'd realized, when it was all over... that she'd had fun.

It wasn't as if the notion was new to her. She'd often had fun on her own while horseback riding, swimming, even just reading... but she'd always been obliged to entertain herself. Now she'd had real fun with another person, and from that moment on she'd simply closed her eyes and trusted his judgment - or what little of it there was. If the movie was good, then she saw a good movie, and if it was terrible, all the better. Only weeks after they'd become involved they'd started to finish each other's sentences and laugh about absolutely nothing, becoming notorious in their clique for disrupting a perfectly normal conversation by bursting into happy tears at the mention of a random word or phrase.

But by no means did that make their relationship all laughter and trivial inside jokes. Such was proved on the activities subsequent to the dinner - after their laughter had died down, their wandering had brought them onto a deserted harbor-park where the sun had just begun to sink below the distant mountain-range. Zelda's wide-eyed whisper had been that it was like the beautiful creation of an artist - the newly-exposed sky was painted with ravishing red and orange, as if someone had taken paint and paintbrush in a divine hand and splashed vibrant colors across the sky with wide, lazy strokes... and in the midst of it all, the bright orb of the sun had somehow lost its glaring harshness and glowed a warm ember-gold.

A solitary bench on the waterside had been their resting spot for the next hour, as they watched the sun and its rays dive slowly into the mountains. As it had grown darker, Zelda had simply allowed the environment to take effect, and the romantic gestures had happened all on their own, and in their own time. That was the way they functioned as a couple - if the time was right, then something happened, a kiss or more... but if it didn't have to happen, it simply didn't.

Thus the physical romance in Zelda's life was less frequent than before, when Link had used every opportunity he could find to smother her in kisses and too-close embraces... but when it did happen - when, before she knew it, the perfect moment had crept up on her and suddenly she and Marth were interlocked in a way only true lovers could have been... she could swear she'd died and gone to heaven.

Minutes later, after having left the park, she walked along the path hand-in-hand with him in the night that was still darkening with the prolonged absence of the sun. Neither needed to speak - they both were comfortable with their silence, as far more had been said without words not long in the past - and once in a long while, a faint white glimmer blinded Zelda's eyes from overhead beyond the roof of palm trees. Although she was drowsy and drunk with happiness, she felt as if every sense was alive - through the thick mist of blackness she could feel the cool, inviting summer breeze playing across her face and her bare arms... and when she reached up with one hand to pull away the hair tie that held back her long sun-colored hair, it billowed out behind her like a silk curtain.

When the refreshing sensation whistled across the back of her neck and ticked her ears, she couldn't help but laugh - a light, gleeful chuckle that often gathered stares from anyone... and it didn't fail now. When she glanced to her left, Marth was gazing at her, and there was a wide smile on his face. Zelda's hand came to her flying hair to keep it out of her face, and carelessly she tucked a strand behind her ear.

"What?" she asked, simply unable to discard the infectious grin, and with his free hand Marth reached over to push the remaining golden rivulets out of Zelda's face. They slowly came to a halt, and Zelda had another pleasant tingle as she felt his hand on the side of her face, guiding her eyes upwards into his as he scrutinized every inch of her face.

"You're a dream come true," he told her with a grin that reminded her of a smitten school boy, "that's all."

A small geyser in Zelda's stomach bubbled happily. Marth spoke often enough about her supposed beauty, and she soaked it up like a sponge... but she attempted to stifle her giddiness and donned her best pout, as if to repeat, "_that's all?"_

As Marth grinned at her through shaggy cerulean bangs, loose from his usual golden coronet, Zelda knew with a sneaking certainty that there was something sinister afoot. While she didn't want to make assumptions, there was something about the roguish gleam in his eye that made her suspicious... and then she loosed an indignant shriek as the remainder of her golden hair, usually held in check by a tiny-yet-ridiculously-expensive silver tiara, cascaded over her face in a mess of thick curls.

"Hey!"

Zelda threw her head back to cast the massive waves over her head and off her face, and after looking wildly around, saw Marth mere feet away, the miniscule hair implement in his hand, waving it tauntingly in the air at her and still grinning - although he appeared slightly shocked at exactly how much hair had been cleverly hidden underneath such a tiny crown.

"Give that back!"

The Smash Tournament required relatively formal garb for all contestants, and therefore forced her into a constricting pink gown during battles, but Zeldawas a good runner. The jade summer dress allowed her plenty of room to pump her legs, and she managed to kick off her flip-flops within a few seconds of giving chase to the quickly retreating Marth. Her hair felt like a badly-made, heavy cotton hat that sat too low on the back of her neck, and she decided that when she caught Marth she would have to shove his face in it just to show him how uncomfortably fluffy it got when she neglected to blow-dry it.

_Not that he would mind_, she told herself smugly as she bent her torso low into the wind, widening her stride. But while she was fast, the dress was tight around her long strides, and simple slacks made Marth much faster. He quickly put enough distance between them to turn around and jog backwards in an infuriatingly nonchalant manner.

"You wait till I catch you," she threatened, pumping her fist in the air and donning her best enraged expression, "You'll be sorry!"

"What's my punishment?" he called back playfully, and Zelda didn't even bother answering, because they both knew the answer to that - the blonde princess was quick to forgive and even quicker to overcompensate in terms of affection.

The air was full of laughter as Marth turned again and kept running, the glittering tiara clutched in one hand. Zelda noted with satisfaction that there was a spot of pure blackness ahead. The night sky was quickly approaching, and there would undoubtedly be little place to run after they cleared the road of overhanging palm trees. A few moments had passed before she realized that the gap between them had decreased alarmingly, and wondered if she was truly quick enough to catch up with him... but then she saw that he wasn't running anymore; he had come to a halt just as soon as he cleared the palm canopy.

A grin crossed her lips. She didn't know why he had stopped, but it had been the biggest mistake of his life. Twin cries of surprise split the air as Zelda hit him running, her head tucked to the side as her chest and shoulders crashed into his back.

Knowing that in a perfect world, Marth would have given enough support to merely be pushed a few feet, Zelda hadn't held back. But what she hadn't expected was for him to be either so distracted or so 'out of it' that he offered no resistance whatsoever, and went down just as easily as if Zelda had tackled a bean-bag. She, of course, had little time to react, and thus clung to the back of his shirt the whole way down.

_Lice_, was her first thought, preceding even the obligatory assessment of injury. However, after she was done freaking out about the proximity of her hair to the sand, she was finally able to see that there _was_ sand here, white and soft... they were near the beach.

"Listen, Zel," Marth began, his voice weirdly muffled, and Zelda realized with a start that her rear end was positioned comfortably on his back, "that was a nice tackle, but... look up."

As she hurriedly rose from her seat and turned her eyes skyward, the breath was simply knocked from her lungs. For as far as the black sky stretched, there were glimmering dots of light, sparkling and glowing like millions of tiny eyes winking at her from the heavens. There was darkness all around, sheer and pure, and because of it, the stars had never looked so beautiful.

"Goddesses," Zelda whispered, her eyes wide and awed, "it's beautiful... I haven't seen them like this since - since Altea!"

She really hadn't. Around the Smash Dorms, there was far too much light pollution to see much of the stars at night, and at her home in Hyrule, there had never been a cloudless night. But once, she and Marth had taken a week off from the Tournament to visit his homeland, and she couldn't remember a more beautiful place. The towns themselves had been unique, a fascinating mixture of Japanese and European culture, followers of _bushido_ and chivalry alike - a place where the citizens lived not only in love of their country, but love of their ruler as well, which meant that Zelda, his chosen consort, was given treatment that rivaled that of her own home.

War had ravaged surrounding lands and taken a toll on the villages and their peoples, but the magnificence of the surrounding land had been untouched - wherever she had turned, she'd seen things green and alive, and there were placid lakes on the hills surrounding the valley where Altea castle was located... and at night, when every light in the castle-town was extinguished, there remained pitch-blackness and a cloudless sky in which thousands of stars could shine unabated. The first night alone, Zelda and Marth had spent the night outside on a secluded hillside, lying side-by-side on the soft grass and gazing upwards into the stars.

"Oh my God!"

The leakage of American language had all but taken over her own religion. But this, Zelda felt, was an appropriate occasion.

"A shooting star! Did you see that?"

"No, I missed that one. I saw one before, though... you know, right before you nearly killed me."

She whirled around and bent down slightly towards Marth, who was still sitting in the sand where Zelda had crashed into him. She threw out a hand and grabbed his wrist, putting all of her own weight into pulling him up from the ground. "You baby. I hardly touched you."

She hauled him forwards, further into the sand and over the beach, scanning the horizon, and then looking around for a good vantage point. Casting her eyes to her right, she saw a hill rising from the white sand and leveling to a flat plane at its apex.

"Look," she called, and then began to pull Marth up the incline, "come on! We have to make a wish together!"

* * *

Well, once again, no bad things, no unrest. 

PirateGoddess, even though she didn't review - Don't worry about not understanding some of my other stuff (coughSoBelowcough), 'cause I assume you, like me, come to FFnet for the writing... and if you don't, don't tell me :-).

Now then, shall I write part 2? The world may never know...


	2. Chapter 2

It's Pix again. Didja miss me? No? Right then.

Lotsa dialogue in this chapter, but I felt I needed to work on it. Plus, I'm pretty sure it isn't too horrendous.

Disclaimer - I do not own Marth, Zelda, or Link. Or Peach. I do, however, own the bad Italian restaurant in the first chapter, although it is currently out for loan.

* * *

Zelda's world was nothing more than a blur of brightly shining spots as she spun on one foot, convinced that she'd just seen a streak of white in the sky just out of sight. She searched the constellations hawkishly, focusing on Orion and daring his belt to fall from the sky; willing Leo's tail to drip from his body in a splash of silver... for at this point, even a dull, dwarfish star would be sufficient - she'd been out here for too long, trying too hard to see a shooting star on a night that was supposed to be full of them. 

Another flash of white seared the side of her eyelid, and she spun again, nearly reaching out with her hands as if she could grasp one with her fingers and hold it poised in the sky.

It was gone before she got there, and for a moment she just stood, staring into the sky, wondering why, on a night like this - during a meteor shower, nonetheless - she was unable to pick out a single shooting star.

_Millions of stars in the sky, and they all decide to fall when I'm not - _

"There's one!"

Instinctually she whirled again, her hand flying to her hair to keep it from blowing into her face. Her eyes jerked about the sky, searching the sky to which Marth had pointed…

"It's gone, damn it," she sighed in frustration, and had almost begun to contemplate dropping to the ground and giving up hope when she caught sight of a small white streak in the sky.

"There!" she screamed overzealously, and there _was_ one, not just a fluke but right there before her eyes, blazing through the sky as if it were tearing a hole in the universe. She nearly counted the seconds before it disappeared - one and a half, and even that was generous - and eagerly turned to Marth, on whose face she bleakly recognized the same aggravated, searching expression.

Then it happened again - wildly he turned to indicate another plot in the sky, but without even turning, Zelda knew what would happen: she would witness another non-star in a patch of blank sky, the remaining stars still and winking as if they were mocking her for being so slow, and then she would grow ridiculously angry over such a trivial matter…

She looked anyway, and saw nothing.

A drawn-out, long-suffering groan escaped her lips, and with an overly dramatic flourish, she let her legs buckle under her and fell heavily to the ground, laying flat on her back and spreading her arms as if she were being crucified by the cruel custodians of fortune who had so conveniently orchestrated a comet shower during which she was simply unable to make a simple wish with her boyfriend.

"The fates are a nasty bunch," she muttered.

"Looks that way," Marth smirked, and then plopped down beside her. "You're trying too hard to see them."

"I know," she complained, crossing her arms over her eyes, "but all I want to do is make a wish! Can't God just stop spiting me for once, that smug, vindictive – "

"Careful," Marth warned with a grin, "He may smite you."

"Sacrilegious thug," she retorted.

Zelda punctuated the sentence with a punch to his arm, difficult to execute while lying on the ground at her trajectory, but still fathomably painful. As far as she was concerned, she could drop the Peach-famous 'O-M-G' once in a long while without committing herself to the Holy Ghost and company. In response to her violent action, the blue-haired prince feigned a look of hurt, and turned away muttering something about the abusive nature of their relationship.

The blonde princess spotted a glisten of silver above, and was sorely tempted to look up, but decided that it could wait. "Oh, well, fine, if you're going to get like that…"

She thought that if she were lying just a little more to the side, she might see the smile dawning on Marth's lips as she fell straight into his trap – she'd done so too many times in the past not to recognize it. Nevertheless, she lifted herself into a sitting position, and on the way, stopped only a fraction of a second to wince at the ache of her lately unused abdominal muscles… but, as always, that was enough, and yet another time Zelda had let her guard down for a moment too many: something years of the Tournament should have taught her, but also one of the warning signs that magically disappeared whenever she was with Marth.

A shriek of surprise split the air as something hit her from the front, and she felt the muscles give way as she flew backwards to the sand, laden with something heavy as the uneven weight sent them rolling over and over in the grass, her vision spinning and her knowledge of what had happened somehow making her laugh giddily and dizzily as she finally came to a halt looking into Marth's eyes. They were close; so much so that their noses were all but touching, and yet she couldn't bring herself to move.

Before she knew it, they were kissing, shooting stars of her own blasting through her eyelids as she scolded herself for melting like a giddy schoolgirl whenever it happened. That didn't stop her from reciprocating as best she could – an alarming prospect when one was acquainted with exactly how passionate she was about the things – or people – she loved. But Marth had unwillingly committed to it the moment he'd first asked her out, and, in some immortal words of her own, hell if she'd ever let him go.

'Hell if I'll ever let you go'also happened to be an accurate summation of Zelda's thoughts at the time. This was one of the moments she often bragged to Peach about – a moment where nothing else in the world was relevant, and all that was important was that she felt completely loved; adored and cherished by single person until she could also fairly say 'screw the rest of the world'. The earth could have melted below them, or a misguided falling star could have incinerated them where they lay, but all that mattered was that she was kissing him, he was kissing her back, and it would take a cataclysm of epic proportions to separate them.

Zelda only realized that she needed oxygen when they broke away, and she was left gulping great breaths of air, Marth's breath on her face warm and comforting, her smile so wide that her cheeks hurt.

"Call it payback," he informed her with a smirk as he rolled off of her to lie on his back by her side.

"Call what payback?" she breathed, and then, grinning, "Oh, the tackle."

The grin grew wider. "Apologies for that _not_ being the first thing on my mind."

* * *

. 

And, apologies for the chapter ending so abruptly. It is now in three parts.

Opus Triumphant - Quite the flatterer, are we? Heh, not to say I don't appreciate it... you have a way with words as well, may I say. Translation: Publish something!

PirateGoddess - Thank you for the compliments! As for school, I can only express the same sentiments, as the very same thing has been keeping me from updating.

razzkat - Yes, another Marth/Zelda. What can I say:)

Nox - And he said, "if there is to be another chapter, then let there be so..." and lo and behold, there was. Undeniable proof that Equinox Reaper is God in disguise. (AKA Yay, I have achieved vividness, commence worshipping) Thank you!

Next chapter - more flirty goodness and more heavily concealed similes.


	3. Chapter 3

Attention all ye who enter here: Opus Triumphant has a tongue of molten silver and a heart of pure gold. He's got a flatter-gun and he ain't afraid to use it!

Just for this chapter, I ask you all to simply discard your love of Link, just for a bit! Simply let him go for three - no, _two_ minutes of your time.

Then repeat after me: _Pix does NOT hate Link._

He is just a convenient lightning rod of hate (™Colin Mochrie), being the only other male character in the game for whom I have no particular affinity.

This chapter picks straight up from the last one, so read the ending over before beginning. Or, if you're one of those people who sees a story and skips straight to the last chapter, read the entire thing. I hear that often helps.

* * *

... ... ...

* * *

Not the first thing on her mind?

_More like a distant hundredth_.

Zelda heard Marth chuckle beside her and shift his head closer to hers, until the tips of their hair met on the grass, and the sky they saw had to be the same. Sighing and casting her eyes upward, she halfheartedly wondered if she should attempt again to watch for comets, and, in the case that she did, if she and Marth would finally see the same one.

"Looks like the shower's pretty much over," Zelda heard him murmur beside her.

"There's one," she whispered, pointing straight up at the brightest star in the black heavens and its nonexistent stream of stardust, pretending to follow its silvery tail through the sky until it disappeared halfway to the horizon in a brilliant splash of imaginary fireworks.

Marth didn't question it, but instead turned his head to her with a quizzical look.

"Why are you so set on making this wish?"

"I just am."

"No," Marth persisted, "I mean, can't you make it yourself?"

"It doesn't work that way," Zelda sighed in frustration before realizing that now she'd have to explain herself. Marth's tiny smile indicated that he knew the same.

"Well?" he asked, "How does it work?"

Zelda sighed, wondering how best to describe it in a manner that might accurately express its meaning and importance to her. In fact there seemed no way to do it, for she'd tried many times to pass the significance on to Peach, and had always ended up with a ludicrous glance or derisive laugh - unintentional, she was sure, but it somehow never failed to hurt her, or at least make her suicidal for a night.

She glanced over at Marth for a moment, who appeared to be waiting silently and expectantly, and wondered briefly if he might do such a thing to her; if he would deem her a raving lunatic like so many before him and dismiss it as the fantasy of a smitten girl too young to be talking of real love. And if he couldn't understand and share her chimeric notions, then who could she entrust with her romantic Elysium and her imaginary arcadia; her pipe dreams, her fond illusions; her fanciful castles in the sky?

Perhaps, if Peach's kingdom and Samus's home planet had more tradition, and were more deeply rooted in romance and mystery, those of her friends would understand her when she spoke of it... but they were modern cultures - countries overridden with strange technology; an entire universe filled with machines and robots... she really couldn't expect them to make some more room for the fool's paradise of an old-fashioned princess.

But perhaps - just perhaps - she had a chance to reach Marth, for through the rich tapestry of Altea's lifestyle and their lavish history, there had to be mention of knights and lords; of high-born romantic ideals and chivalry that passed down traditions of honor and grace, and raised men as lovers instead of fighters. Those days may have been over, but while Link had been too far gone to even contemplate the concept, Marth was right there in front of her, and if she didn't do it now, she'd never gather the courage.

"You know that ancient Altean belief?" Zelda asked after some thought, "The one where two people who love each other... they share a dance, an embrace, and finally a kiss, and that means they'll be in love forever - that even if they have trouble in a relationship, even if they can't stand each other after a few years... they'll always be in love?"

"Our oldest tradition," Marth replied with a smile, "If I remember, I asked you to dance once, before you broke it off with Link."

_He tried to kill you_, Zelda remembered, nearly laughing. "That was pretty funny... I did it, too. Best dance of my life."

"Embrace," Marth added as if reading a list, and then with a smirk, "check. And kiss?"

The smile grew intoxicating, until the princess believed she might swoon like a proper lady. "I think we've got all our bases covered."

"Yes," Zelda replied softly, "for that belief. For _your_ belief."

She looked away. "I don't have mine yet."

z100 Marth was silent for a moment. And then, gently, "... tell me."

"It's - " Zelda began, and then sighed, "It's hard to explain... it's not the same as Altea, but it's kind of similar... about the same things, really, like eternal love, and that kind of stuff... but no," she trailed off, a slight blush coming to her cheeks, "I really shouldn't - it doesn't matter anyway, just a thought I had... more of a fairy tale, I think - I mean, I only heard it in passing, not - "

"Zelda."

"Right," she continued quickly, "sorry, but... are you sure you're - "

"Interested?" he finished for her, and then, "Yes, I am. Take your time."

Zelda smiled. "All right. Thanks... it's just that it's really a sort of Hyrulian superstition, and I heard about it from my nursemaid..."

She laughed suddenly, remembering fondly the old woman, and the fussy way she had about her that made it somewhat ridiculous to imagine her in a romantic situation of any kind.

"She was a real character... she always used to tell me all the time about 'true love', and how wonderful it was, and how lucky I would be if I ever found it... I guess she did, once, too... just trying to spread the wisdom."

The princess waited, turning her head slightly to the side and almost hoping Marth would interrupt her, but he was silent.

"She was the first one who told me about it... that if you love someone so much that you couldn't stand to be without him, and he did as well, then all you'd have to do was make a wish on the same shooting star... and even if you don't get married or even start something serious, you'll always have a special bond... you'll have love for life. Isn't that a beautiful thought?"

She looked over at Marth, whose unreadable expression suddenly sent embarrassment coursing through her like poison, painting her cheeks a bright shade of red and muddling her words when she next spoke.

"Of course, that's just stupid, I guess... forget I said it, I'm just being an idiot. Again. Goddesses, I do a lot of that lately don't I? I'm sorry, I - "

"Zel," Marth interrupted, grabbing her arm, "stop it. Remember what we said: you are not stupid - "

" - for being myself," she finished resolutely, and sighed. "Sorry. It just... I wasn't sure you'd..."

She gave an apologetic wince, even though he couldn't see it. "... understand."

"Are you joking?" he replied, "That kind of thing isn't a mystery to me. You know that."

"Well, Peach seemed to think it was silly. I sort of didn't want to tell you... I thought you'd laugh."

Marth gave her an odd glance. "You thought I would laugh at the concept of sharing something that important? You're not the only hopeless romantic in the world."

"Anyone else would laugh, though," Zelda complained. "You mean to say that if I told that to Link, he'd just take it without a snigger?"

"That's Link," Marth replied, as if it were explanation enough, and Zelda smirked. In response Marth turned his head to her as a disturbing thought appeared to cross his mind. "You didn't tell him, did you?"

"No," Zelda giggled, "scared you, though?"

"Yeah," he replied with a smile, "wouldn't want him to get the idea you liked me better."

"Not unless I felt like watching the apocalypse... or just listening to some incessant whining..."

"Or getting molested on the dance floor during a huge party," Marth added, grinning.

Zelda burst out laughing. "Or bearing witness to another drunken nude serenade at three in the morning."

"Oh, Jesus, I remember that."

"I wish I didn't!"

Zelda couldn't contain herself as the image of a naked, completely inebriated Link ran howling through her mind, screaming an indecipherable mix of 'I love you, Zelda' and 'what shall we do with a drunken sailor' as he streaked through the empty corridors of the Smash Dorms, before staking out in front of Zelda's room and settling down into a quieter ballad about herbs and their many uses.

"Way hay and up she rises," Marth crowed all of a sudden, and once again Zelda exploded with laughter, wiping the tears from her eyes as the song coordinated comically with the visual.

"Patent blocks o' diff'rent sizes," she joined in cheerfully, bobbing her head to the melody as they continued raucously,

_Sling him in the long boat till he's sober, _

_keep him there and make 'im bale 'er, _

_pull out the plug and wet him all over,_

_ take 'im and shake 'im, try an' wake 'im, _

_trice him up in a runnin' bowline, _

_give 'im a taste of the bosun's rope-end, _

_give 'im a dose of salt and water, _

_stick on 'is back a mustard plaster, _

_shave his belly with a rusty razor, _

_send him up the crow's nest till he falls down, _

_put 'im in bed with the captain's daughter - _

Zelda had to wipe more happy tears from her eyes at the memory of Link's high, off-pitch crooning as she finished with a jaunty "_earl-aye in the morning_!"

"Damn it," Marth choked through peals of laughter as they nearly rolled into each other in their mirth, "how the hell did he remember all that?"

"And he was really hammered, too," Zelda added with an enormous grin, "must be a trade secret of drunks worldwide."

The blonde princess couldn't help a few stray giggles as Marth burst into laughter once again, containing himself after a few long moments to gasp, "God, we really shouldn't be making fun of him like this."

A small flinch of irritation flickered through her mind, as did an involuntary _why not?_

"Oh, yeah," Zelda replied, her smile faltering for a moment as she thought in more detail about the drunken sailor's event, and in truth, about Link in general, "...that might be construed as paying him back for being an ignorant asshole."

The effect of the sentence was tremendous, and managed very neatly to extinguish any trace of a good mood in a matter of milliseconds. It was as if the oxygen had been vacuumed from the air, leaving a cold atmosphere in which it was very hard to breathe. The moment they both fell silent, breath bated at who would speak first, Zelda knew that what followed would be terribly unfair, as Marth certainly didn't deserve to get yelled at... but somehow she couldn't bring herself to smile and deliver the much-awaited 'just kidding'.

_Could've used a better word than 'asshole'._

Her stomach churned as she waited agonizingly for him to say something. He didn't, and as if by instinct alone, she began to get antsy.

"What?" she asked irritably, "It's true, isn't it?"

Marth was silent still, and the princess began to feel as though she'd said something unutterably terrible. She hated the sensation, as it often made her feel dizzy and nauseous, and simply unable to say the right things.

She did it all too often, too - she'd called her mother a pompous whore once and shocked Peach into fainting, and had been left afterwards wondering what kind of a person insulted her own family with such severity. Then there was the time she'd spoken openly about a nasty and untrue rumor concerning Yoshi's hospitalization for depression, and had been heralded by her fellow Smashers for weeks after as a libelous shrew.

'_His silence flouts me'_, Zelda quoted angrily to herself, listening to the pregnant pause and wishing that she could hear something besides the pounding of her own heart.

She hadn't even said anything so horrible; many people would have called Link the same thing given the chance. Even Link himself wouldn't take it so seriously as Marth appeared to have, so really, what was the point in acting so -

"No one before you ever meant it."

Zelda's eyes narrowed, and she threw a glance - more of a glare - at Marth. _Reading my mind now, are you?_

"I don't know what you're talking about." she replied coolly, looking away and trying not to think about what he'd said.

"I've heard him get the butt of so many insults, it's hard to keep track of them all," Marth continued, "but they were jokes. You just went from happy to hateful without blinking an eye, and I'm pretty sure you weren't kidding."

Zelda didn't answer him for a moment and folded her arms tighter around herself, feeling suddenly cold. In truth she didn't know why she'd been so derogatory, and knew that as long as she didn't think about it, she'd never have to know.

"Why do you hate him?" Marth asked.

"I don't hate him," Zelda said in flustered response. "I just... he's..."

She sighed and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and trying to keep the image of his face from her mind. "He's a little too much sometimes. He needs to get with it... by now, he should know he's out of the running. I mean, _really_," she continued impatiently, "he's just wasting his time. What does he think he's going to accomplish?"

"He's just lost something," Marth replied evenly and quietly, "he's trying to cope as best as he can."

"Yeah, well, of course he's lost something," Zelda snapped, "_me_. Big surprise; I wonder what he thought would happen!"

She fell silent for a moment, teeth clenched lividly as she tried to work out why she was so angry, as well as find the best way to cool off and make it look as though she'd never blown up in the first place.

_Oh, please_, she snarled internally, _is this really what I call blowing up? That's wonderful; I goddamn raise my voice a little and I get all scared._

"_Ugh!" _she shrieked, the hands on her cheeks forming into claws. She was such a baby - crying at the first sign of trouble, crying the very moment she encountered what Peach called the 'men don't get me syndrome' - a delusional infant who either hadn't yet outgrown her childhood fantasies or was simply too complex to be understood.

"I don't dislike him because I broke up with him," she exploded suddenly, "I broke up with him because I dislike him! He doesn't understand anything about love, it's all just kiss, kiss, sex, kiss, sex, grope - "

"Move on," Marth intoned quietly from beside her.

"That," Zelda hissed into the air, her eyes wide with aggravation as if she were in a staring contest with the unblinking sky, "is it. _Exactly _it."

With a groan she heaved herself over, rolling onto her stomach and resting her elbows on the ground, palms digging into her eyes as if she were trying to gouge them out. "I just - I don't understand how he could be so _cold_. You know? I mean, we were dating; hugging and kissing and everything. He even told me he wanted to marry me someday!"

She let her elbows drop, and felt her chin smash uncomfortably into the dirt.

"How can you marry someone if you don't even love them?" she asked halfheartedly, "He acted so romantic; so devoted... but there was nothing behind it."

Marth was silent for only a moment more.

"... you thought he was the one, didn't you?"

Zelda looked at him uneasily at the sudden question, and feeling the burn of tears in her eyes, nodded. Then realizing that he couldn't see it, she added in a small voice, "Yes. I thought."

"But he didn't share your view of love?"

The princess was silent.

_He didn't have a view of love._

"Link wasn't the only one," she said after swallowing the tears back, "He's still not the only one."

She looked sideways at Marth, feeling his eyes bore into hers.

"No one thinks we're going to make it," she murmured, her frown apparent, and her distress snaking its way into her voice against her will.

"Your parents?" Marth asked after a few seconds.

"Don't get me started," she retorted bitterly, averting her eyes and staring into the ground.

Her parents were the least of her problems; she saw them once a year. She was greeted with Peach's blithe, cheerful face every morning when she went to the bathroom to brush her teeth; Samus's quiet, friendly smile every day on the other side of her dorm room, Roy's hyperactive ear-to-ear grin as she met him and Marth for breakfast in the mess hall. She wasn't stupid - they had ears, they could hear; mouths as well... they could talk.

"They think I've got goddamn puppy love," she muttered at the grass, "I've got puppy love and you're just using me to get at Hyrule's wealth."

The worst part was that no one had seemed to blink an eye at it - apparently wealthy men routinely exploited younger, significantly less wealthy women for money they didn't need.

"They don't get it," Zelda continued quietly as she looked once again at Marth, "it's not just some stupid crush... this is real."

As if he would have needed proof, Zelda wriggled suddenly closer to him, an arm protectively around his midriff, head resting on his chest, her ears suddenly filled with the sound of his heartbeat. He closed an arm around her shoulders in return, pulling her in tighter, and she shut her eyes, reveling in the sudden warmth that spread through her body.

"I would know if it wasn't real," she said softly, "I want to make this wish because if we don't... we won't be together forever. And they'll be right."

Zelda felt Marth's fingers run through her hair, and closed her eyes with a smile.

"We'll make that wish," he told her quietly as she shifted up further, settling her head just by his, "don't worry."

He trailed off, winding a golden tendril about his finger, and Zelda turned her head towards the sky once again, exploring the vast black canvas with her eyes and consoling herself that if fate so desired, she'd someday have her chance to make up for the wish they'd missed today.

_We'll make it work,_ she told herself privately.

And they would - Peach and Roy and Zelda's cold, political parents may have dismissed her childhood superstitions, but after all, she hadn't made the wish with them.

And then, while she and Marth lay with the sky in their eyes, it was as if fortune had suddenly turned improbably and miraculously in her favor, for a glimmering spot in the sky shimmered once; twice... and, like the violent, graceful stroke of a paintbrush, tore a chrome streak into the sky, leaving its silvery residue in the night as it disappeared with a flash beneath the black horizon.

A smile spread slowly across Zelda's lips. With a happy sigh and drew closer still to her lover, feeling both their heartbeats quicken in unison as the glowing imprint shot through her memory.

Mind focused; more content at that moment than she'd ever felt before, and with a sense of security and warmth flooding her body, Zelda took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and made a wish.

* * *

... ... ...

* * *

"Love is not two people staring into each other's eyes, but two people looking ahead in the same direction." - Antoine de Saint-Exuperey

... hooray for poorly presented metaphors! Oh and, weird line breaks for no reason because the chapter starts and ends to quickly that I can afford no space for confusion.

Repeat after me: _Pix does not hate Link_.

She just sees him as a perfect opportunity to get Zelda fired up about something.

I hate when there are no in-game symbols to make a part of the story... like the dance between Squall and Rinoa, or Galahad's Sword in Shadow Hearts II. There's nothing I can do but make up ancient Altean and Hyrulian superstitions.

Quote: '_His silence flouts me_,' slightly modified from the Taming of the Shrew, '_Her silence flouts me, and I'll be revenged!" _Song: Drunken Sailor, Sea Shanty which is abominably fun to sing with a bunch of friends in a crowded car, and even funnier imagined sung by an inebriated, dancing Link.

Opus Triumphant (who I am assuming is male, because it's better to mistake a woman for a man than the other way around, unless you're a japanese animator, which I somewhat doubt) - As I have said before, you have this habit of charming the hell out of us humble fellow writers, and I'll be surprised if you aren't site-famous by now.

PirateGoddess - The ending wasn't originally supposed to be such an abrupt cliffhanger... the chapter was getting long, and I figured that it would be the best possible time for a chappie break (FFnet requires some cunning timing if you're going to stay accessible!) But I'm glad someone thought it worked; thank you for the review!

razzkat - Thanks very much... always glad to please!

Thank you all and good night.


End file.
